


A Song for the Void

by wingwebbing



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Balance Arc, F/M, TAZ Balance, The Legato Conservatory, The Starblaster Crew - Freeform, The Stolen Century, taz balance spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2020-01-14 11:28:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18475327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wingwebbing/pseuds/wingwebbing
Summary: After 46 cycles, Lup and Barry have a decision to make. They're ready to tell each other how they feel-- but with the heavy burden of saving the world, is there ever a good time? Surely, they know how the other person feels, right? They have to know. Right?There's one thing they don't know, at least: the Legato Conservatory will teach them more than just the performing arts.





	1. The Ceremony

After decades of running and fighting, the soon-to-be-lovers were the only two left.

  
That is, they were the only two who hadn’t picked their mentors yet.

They sat awkwardly on the bench together, two figures dwarfed by the giant amphitheater. Onstage, their friends stood next to their chosen mentors in an elaborate ceremony. Some locals, the other new students at the Legato Conservatory, had filled in the benches on either side of the couple, but now they too had chosen their crafts. Lup and Barry were alone.

“Lup and Barry Bluejeans?” came a disembodied voice, amplified by a mix of illusion magic and some wicked acoustics. “Lup and Barry Bluejeans.” The other students began to murmur onstage, and the other members of IPRE looked puzzled. Magnus put one large hand up to his eyes to try to look out at his friends through the harsh lights.

“GUYS? This is the part where you come up and pick an art or whatever. So we can find the Light of Creation? SAVE THE WORLD? ARE Y’THERE?” The locals didn’t seem to know how to react to his “save the world” comment, heavy words Magnus said so casually into the crisp night air. They continued to murmur, and by now their mentors had joined in.

Barry and Lup looked at each other, as they had, in fact, been doing the entire time. “WHAT?” yelled Lup, not moving. “YOU’LL HAVE TO SPEAK UP, MAGGIE.” At this, Barry snorted, only moving his hand from Lup’s for a brief second to push his glasses back onto his nose.

“I SAID-“ Magnus yelled before Taako cut him off with a hand, using all his willpower not to burst out laughing as well. Whatever magical charm magnified the announcer’s voice also worked on the whole stage, and Magnus’s yelling had essentially triggered feedback, a telepathic screech that made everyone on the premises claw at their ears. Everyone, that is, except Lup and Barry, who were still laughing.

“LUP AND BARRY-” the announcer’s voice took a second to adjust to the feedback. “Ahem. Excuse me. Lup and Barry Bluejeans, if you could just join a professor onstage and- oh? What’s that?” Everyone looked around, unsure of what to do and still recovering from the magical screech. “Well, that seems highly unli—okay. Yes. I’ll deal with it.” The voice sounded faint, like the speaker had backed away from a microphone, but now it returned to its original volume.

“Uhm, Professors Kaye and Coinpike, you are excused from the rest of the ceremony. It appears there is a… situation, in the Caverns of the Light of Creation. Your guidance is required immediately.” All eyes (except for Taako’s and Merle’s, who were trying to figure out where the announcer’s voice was coming from, to no avail) turned towards the only two professors on stage who hadn’t yet acquired any students. The first was a very large elven woman, tan skinned with cheerful eyes. Professor Kaye wore her wild, curly hair in a loose, lopsided curl of a bun sitting on the top of her head, the most orderly thing about her. She wore at least three visible layers of sweaters over at least two pairs of shredded leggings, feathers and what appeared to be animal fur clinging to the whole ensemble. When Lup saw her, she absentmindedly wondered exactly why she hadn’t been chosen yet. She was clearly much cooler than her squarish colleagues.

Professor Coinpike stood almost comically in contrast to Professor Kaye, and yet still a strange sight on his own. He was a cleanshaven dwarf, the lack of beard making him seem even smaller than he should have been. Not only that, he was the best dressed of the faculty, wearing a crisp tailcoat more suited for a high-profile concert than a school ceremony. When he heard the orders from the disembodied announcer, his already-pronounced scowl deepened.

“Are we to leave without students, then?” he complained in a surprisingly gruff voice, an accent neither Barry nor Lup could place. “Are we supposed to twiddle our thumbs all year?” Professor Coinpike glared at a nearby group of students, all huddled around the willowy modern dance instructor. It seemed to Barry that the Professor didn’t appreciate being shown up. Professor Kaye, meanwhile, seemed less concerned. She was almost smiling, her eyes fixed on the couple in the audience. The voice over the speaker cleared its throat. Before it could reply, Lup was already standing up, hoisting Barry up with her with one strong arm.

“I want to learn from her.” Lup pointed at Professor Kaye, who didn’t react. Uncomfortable with being the center of attention, and painfully aware of the heavy weight of every curious pair of eyes in the venue, Barry hurried to speak up next.

“I-I think I’ll learn from Professor…. Coinpike, was it?” The professor in question had started to turn red.

“You don’t know who I am? Where have you been? I am the most decorated member of this faculty, and you have the gall to—” Barry looked like he was about to melt under the professor’s words. Lup squeezed his hand and interrupted.

“Well, if you don’t want him, I’m sure my professor would be happy to let Barry here join me in learning, uh…”

“Violin, dear.” Professor Kaye supplied, her first words the whole ceremony.

“ _You don’t even know what disciplines you’re entering?"_ shouted Professor Coinpike, insulted.

“It’s settled, then.” said the disembodied voice, hurrying to finish the ceremony. “Lup of New Elfington will study under Professor Kaye and Barold Bluejeans will study under Professor Coinpike.” Barry paled even more at the sound of his full name. “Congratulations to our newest class, and I wish you all the best. May the Light of Creation guide your hands.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started writing this so long ago-- when the Stolen Century was still happening!-- but college is a bitch and it ended up in my unfinished drafts. But 2019 is the year of getting! things! done! So here I am, posting 1 chapter at a time in the hopes it'll motivate me to finish it. Lup is real and she definitely did not threaten me into finishing this.


	2. The Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their assignments in mind, the crew of the SS Starblaster resolve to save this world, even if it means learning an instrument or two.

And with that, the ceremony was over. A squad of elves clad in black ushered the two professors offstage, weaving them around the other groups. The rest of the students and teachers saw no need to rush, and stood around chatting excitedly about the upcoming semester. The IPRE gang, however, pushed through the crowd to their friends in the audience. Magnus headed down first, with the others following in the hole he carved between the excited students. Finally reunited, the seven travelers looked around at each other, waiting for the others to say something.

“Well gang, I guess there's one topic on everyone's minds.” started Captain Davenport.

“Yeah!” said Magnus, a smile lighting up his face. “I’m gonna chop some WOOD!”

“No,” said Davenport and Lucretia at the same time. Lucretia blushed and waved at Davenport to continue.

“I meant the _Light of Creation_ , Magnus. There’s something wrong with the Light of Creation.” Davenport’s mustache twitched.

“Oh, uh, yeah, Obviously.” chimed in Taako, who was picking at a thread on his jacket. “I’m disappointed in you, Maggie.”

“I just think axes look real cool…”

“ _Anyways_ ,” said the captain impatiently. “We need to find out what’s going on. We’ve never seen the Light being used like this—if something bad happens to it, it’s game over for us _and_ the Hunger.”

“You really think something could happen to the Light? It’s survived Pan knows how many apocalypses at this point.” said Merle.

“Apocalypsees? Apocalypsi?” asked Taako.

“Actually, I think it’s Apocalypso.” responded Magnus.

“I don’t know, Merle.” Davenport ignored the interruption. “And I’m not sure why those two teachers can help the Light, but the conservatory seems to think they can, and we really have no choice but to believe it right now. Lup, Barry, we need you to find out whatever you can from Professors Kaye and Coinpike. See if they can get you close to the Light—we just need eyes on the Light.” Lup recognized the look in Davenport’s eyes.

“Of course, Captain. We’ll do our best.” Taako raised an eyebrow at Lup when she said this, expecting a much less serious answer. Lup shook her head almost imperceptibly, a movement only her twin’s keen elven eyes could detect. She knew the look in Davenport’s eyes because it was the look they’d all had, at some point. She could tell her captain had already grown attached to this world, and needed to make sure it was safe. It was the only way their decades-long journey still held any meaning.

“Yeah. We will.” Barry was staring so intensely at Lup, she wasn’t sure he had even heard the captain’s request.

 

* * *

 

Gaining the professors’ favor turned out to be more difficult than the crew had imagined, even considering Barry and Lup were their only pupils. Barry heard from his teacher first—Professor Coinpike had somehow found Barry's room number in the tall spire where the students dormed, and left a meticulously penned note on his door.

_Mr. Barold Bluejeans,_

_You are expected in the North Tower's Tertiary Performance Space at 6:00 sharp tomorrow morning. Come well-rested and do not be late._

_Good evening,_

_Professor S. Coinpike._

Unfortunately, Barry was going over everything they knew about the Light with Lup in one of the Conservatory's communal lounges and didn’t see the note until far too late in the evening. Lup's room was much higher up in the spire than Barry's, but she still chose to walk him to his room instead of simply levitating up to her own from the outside. She didn't think he noticed, but he did. He also noticed the note before she did.

“6 o'clock? That's in five hours!” Barry ripped the note off the door and turned it over in his hands. “So that means I have to wake up at 5 at the latest… Four hours of sleep, I'm going to be so beat tomorrow…” Lup only stared at him.

“Four hours is good right? That’s like, a full night.” It was true, Lup didn’t need the same kind of rest Barry needed as a human. Most nights, he stayed up late with her and slept through the morning while she got an early start to the day. He couldn’t remember the last time he saw her truly exhausted.

“It’ll be… Whatever. Yes. Lup, I’m so exhausted and I need to prepare. Goodnight?” Barry headed into his room, but Lup caught him by the wrist.

“I—”

He turned around, and both human and elf saw the worry in each other’s eyes. Time seemed to stop for just a moment, in that forgotten blip in time, the universe spun only for them. Barry longed to tell Lup what he had been feeling for the whole journey, what he told Taako back on the beach planet. He regretted every moment he didn’t tell her how he felt. Lup also wanted to confess to Barry. It’s why she walked with him every night, it’s why she didn’t want him to go to sleep just yet. She grabbed his wrist because _she was going to tell him_ , but. He just looked so tired. How could she spring this on him _now_? It was okay. He knew. He had to know, right?

Something faltered in Lup’s resolve, and the world kept moving.

“I—Good night, Barry. Tell me how it goes, all right?”

“Of course. I’ll…. Let you know what I find out. Good night.” And then he was gone.

“I love you,” Lup whispered to the wooden door.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote such short chapters back in 2017! The rest of this might be a little wordier-- not sure if that means I've grown as a writer or not!


End file.
